Former JP Morgan analyst, 36, is awarded $35m almost 10 years after glass door at NYC skyscraper shattered on her, leaving her brain-damaged and unable to work or keep a boyfriend

A former JP Morgan analyst was awarded $35 million nearly a decade ago after a glass door in a New York City office building shattered on her head, damaging her brain.

Meghan Brown, 36, suffered the traumatic brain injury when she left 271 Madison Avenue on February 2, 2015.

A dramatic video captured the moment the two-and-a-half-metre-high door shattered and shards of glass came crashing down.

Brown was left with “permanent, serious” injuries that ended her promising career in banking and even caused her love life to suffer, she told the court.

Medics have even told her she will likely develop early dementia, along with sensitivity to light and sound, headaches, dizziness and PTSD.

“I remember at one point there were women picking shards of glass out of my head and hair,” she told the court.

Meghan Brown, 36, suffered the traumatic brain injury while leaving 271 Madison Avenue on February 2, 2015. In the photo: Brown with her deceased service dog Dawson

“I remember seeing glass everywhere, in the lobby, in my neighborhood, just… I saw it all.”

Brown was forced to take a year off work and eventually returned to JP Morgan, but her career gradually declined and in 2021 she was fired for “performance reasons.”

‘After the accident, things just didn’t get better for me. I couldn’t improve,” Brown added.

“It just failed all the time. There has never been a situation where I wasn’t. And it’s embarrassing.

‘I just couldn’t believe that this was the new me. I just couldn’t accept it so I kept trying.’

Brown had to acquire a service dog, which has since passed away, to help her with daily life.

She was also engaged until her fiancé broke off the relationship after realizing he couldn’t have a “normal life” with her, Brown told the court.

“There is not a single facet of her existence that is not affected by her brain injury,” Brown’s attorney added.

She was awarded the amount after a jury agreed that the trauma could have been prevented if the building owner of 271 Madison had conducted proper inspections.

Brown’s attorney successfully argued that a crack had developed in the door that would have been fixed with proper maintenance.

She also pointed out that the glass on one of the doors had previously been broken in 2010 and 2014.

Today, the building is home to an audiologist, a dentist and a real estate planner, among other things.

On the day she was injured, Brown was leaving a physical therapy session when she pushed the door at the same time as someone on the other side.

Dramatic video captured the moment the eight-foot door burst and shards of glass crashed down on her

The Defendant 271 Madison Co. was found to have been negligent in failing to inspect the door and identify a crack in the glass

The glass broke above her head and several members of the public came to her aid before she was rushed to hospital.

‘There was blood in the snow, like a lot of blood,” she told the court. “I remember thinking, it was almost like I was floating or looking down. I didn’t know where this blood came from, and I wondered where this blood came from.’

Since then, Brown has undergone years of medical treatment to aid her recovery, including “neurologists, psychologists, otolaryngologists, pain physicians, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, visual therapists and vestibular therapists,” according to the ruling.

Thomas Sofield, an attorney for defendant 271 Madison Co., argued that there was no evidence of a crack in the door and that the tempered glass behaved exactly as designed when it shattered into several smaller pieces, as opposed to one large sheet.

He also countered that Brown had not suffered a brain injury and that the only treatment she needed was a cut on her hand.

However, the jury found that the defendant was negligent, that their negligence was a substantial factor in causing Brown’s injuries, and awarded her $1,750,000 for past pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

She received $20,000,000 for future pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and $13,429,208 for future medical treatments, therapies, medications and home care.